The marketing campaign in 2016 for British make-up artist Charlotte Tilbury’s “Scent of a Dream” was impressive. As far as I remember, the scent was marketed internationally immediately, whilst her make-up line only surfaced in my country later.
There were adds and interviews with her in all the well-known fashion magazines, advertising a magical scent. She explained that she had developed the scent earlier and used exclusively for herself, but that she was asked about it by strangers so many times that she decided to make it available to everybody. Some of the articles with those interviews can still be found on the internet, I re-checked. Kate Moss, a long-time client of her, was the face of the perfume.
Most fascinating were the stories she told about herself, how she became a success in the industry and that she always wore make-up, even at night. Her “magic cream”, sought after by stars, seemed like the answer to all skin problems. Looking back, whoever designed the marketing campaign really knew what he or she was doing.
I could not wait to order my bottle “Scent of a Dream” from net-a-porter, and when the parcel arrived, expectations were big. I sprayed the perfume and was confused. I still am when smelling the scent.
The fragrance is neither sweet nor tangy, but it is highly artificial. Whilst other perfumes can be differentiated in categories like gourmand, flowery, oriental, and chypre, it seems this one wants to be everything at the same time and tries too much on all fronts.
It is so different and so inharmonious that it is like a special category. It has “something”. It is not an intoxicating scent, for the better or worse, apart from being hard on other people’s noses when you have sprayed too much like any other perfume. In a normal dose it is a fragrance for a day when you feel out of this world and want to take cover under an umbrella that shields you. Another perfume that falls in this category of “inharmonious, but has something”, is Penhaligon’s “Bluebell”. Same story there, strange and eery combination of notes that for normal noses (like mine) do not go together very well.
In “Scent of a Dream” citrus is dominating, together with some frankincense – a strange combination and one I have never seen work out so far. White flowers seem to be in, tuberose maybe, in a very artificial way. Jasmine, patchouli, peach, as Charlotte Tilbury claims on her company webpage? I do not smell them at all.
Citrus comes in various ways, there are the sweet fruits and the sour ones. In “Scent of a Dream” we smell a combination of the sour and even pungent ones. Lemon, limes, cedar lemon, grapefruit, bergamot, lemongrass, you name it; personally, I smell also some softer nashi pear.
It is a cold scent, not a warm one. This becomes also quite clear when defining its colours. The scent is a very light-yellow-green, almost transparent. No warm colours.
What is beautiful about the perfume is the glass bottle. When taking the picture, I was wondering about the right angle and decided that from above it would be just right. When checking Charlotte Tilbury’s webpage, the angle she used was the same. To my surprise there seems to be a science behind the bottle. It is explained in all details right there at her webpage, and I will not repeat it as to me it seems way over the top. It is an exceptional beautiful bottle, but I dare to say it does not channel the powers of the universe, as claimed by the designer…
The exaggeration used to describe the scent at the time of its launch did not do it much good. Currently it is not available for purchase any more and Charlotte Tilbury did not make another one. This is consequent. To her this is her “Scent of a Dream”, and there can be no other. Penhaligon’s “Bluebell” has had Margaret Thatcher as a fan, Charlotte Tilbury’s “Scent of a Dream” has Kate Moss. And both are fitting. Special people for special scents. Kate Moss always came over as indifferent in my eyes and the perfume is not one that melts with its wearer or softens an appearance.
“Scent of a Dream” stays a valued part of my fragrance collection, getting me a little bit out of my comfort zone when smelling it, without scaring me away completely (as some other perfumes do). Indifference is the word that describes the perfume best for me.